[COMP 2001] Scoring Question
Chris
the conclusions. So I apologize in advance if this is a big waste to
everyone's time. Anyway...
If I have a game that I absolutely hate, that maybe is unplayably bad,
am I better off giving it no score, or giving it a 1.
Alternately, if there is a game (or 10 or 20) that may be good or bad,
but is so utterly foreign to what I want in a game that I find that I
can't play it at all, but don't feel like I should mark it down for
that, should I not score it at all, or give it a 5?
Input appreciated!
Thanks,
Chris
gegi
(One meaningless opinion only)
If you deeply hate a game and/or it's unforgivably unplayable, it's better
to give it a 1. After all, last year, just about everything had *someone*
that gave it a 10... better to make your opinion on the hated-thing known.
As for games that just aren't your style, I'd say... if the premise put you
so completely off that you didn't play the game at all (just looked at the
opening text and quit) then don't score it. If you tried to get through the
game (or used the walkthrough, if applicable) and it just wasn't your thing
at all, then giving a middle-range score seems fair.
... of course, everyone scores with entirely different models of fair
numbers anyway. :)
OKB -- not okblacke
>If I have a game that I absolutely hate, that maybe is unplayably bad,
>am I better off giving it no score, or giving it a 1.
If your goal is to bring the game's overall score down, you should give it
a 1. Giving it no score means you do not want to influence its final score.
>Alternately, if there is a game (or 10 or 20) that may be good or bad,
>but is so utterly foreign to what I want in a game that I find that I
>can't play it at all, but don't feel like I should mark it down for
>that, should I not score it at all, or give it a 5?
This is a different type of thing, and it's really up to you. There
aren't any official guidelines for this sort of thing. Some people mark down
everything that doesn't conform to their conception of IF, and others abstain
in those instances (and probably others give it a middle-ish score).
--OKB (Bren...@aol.com) -- no relation to okblacke
"Do not follow where the path may lead;
go, instead, where there is no path, and leave a trail."
--Author Unknown
Carl Muckenhoupt
cerbiu...@hotmail.com says...
>
> If I have a game that I absolutely hate, that maybe is unplayably bad,
> am I better off giving it no score, or giving it a 1.
I'd say that expressing an opinion is preferable to keeping silence. A
game's final score is the mean of the ratings it receives. By rating it
1, you're doing the most you can to lower its standing in the
competition. By refusing to rate it at all, you're not having any effect
at all on its standing.
> Alternately, if there is a game (or 10 or 20) that may be good or bad,
> but is so utterly foreign to what I want in a game that I find that I
> can't play it at all, but don't feel like I should mark it down for
> that, should I not score it at all, or give it a 5?
If you're trying to avoid affecting its standing at all, then you should
not rate it. Giving it a 5 will either raise or lower its final
score, depending on whether its final score was above or below 5 to start
with.
Adam Thornton
Chris <cerbiu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Well, here are my answers:
>If I have a game that I absolutely hate, that maybe is unplayably bad,
>am I better off giving it no score, or giving it a 1.
That'd be a clear case of a "1" for me. I tried it, I hated it.
>Alternately, if there is a game (or 10 or 20) that may be good or bad,
>but is so utterly foreign to what I want in a game that I find that I
>can't play it at all, but don't feel like I should mark it down for
>that, should I not score it at all, or give it a 5?
And that, for me, would be an abstention: I don't know what to give it,
it didn't resonate with me, it might not have been bad. So I would
choose not to rank it.
Adam
D. Jacob Wildstrom
>the conclusions. So I apologize in advance if this is a big waste to
>everyone's time. Anyway...
>
>If I have a game that I absolutely hate, that maybe is unplayably bad,
>am I better off giving it no score, or giving it a 1.
<shrug> If you have a strong opinion on a game, you should definitely
give it a score. 1s are there to be given, as far as I'm concerned.
>Alternately, if there is a game (or 10 or 20) that may be good or bad,
>but is so utterly foreign to what I want in a game that I find that I
>can't play it at all, but don't feel like I should mark it down for
>that, should I not score it at all, or give it a 5?
<shrug> I try to give games marks based on how they appealed to me. If
there's something about a game you didn't like, be sure to factor that
in. If there's something you think was done well, you're clearly
getting the game well enough to honestly assess it. Anfd if you're not
getting a game at all -- it's quite likely the author's fault, not
yours.
Ultimately, I can only think of a couple good reasons not to vote on a game:
* Inability or unwillingness to play the game
* Having been involved with the game's creation (e.g. betatesting)
* Strong personal bias wrt the author (i.e. if Joe Smith poisoned your
cat, or if you're dating Joe Smith (or both!), you couldn't
ethically vote on his game)
+--First Church of Briantology--Order of the Holy Quaternion--+
| A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into |
| theorems. -Paul Erdos |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Jake Wildstrom |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
Alan DeNiro
> Alternately, if there is a game (or 10 or 20) that may be good or bad,
> but is so utterly foreign to what I want in a game that I find that I
> can't play it at all, but don't feel like I should mark it down for
> that, should I not score it at all, or give it a 5?
If you can't play the game, or (like someone said) can't get past the
opening text, then I think it shouldn't be given a rating at all. I
don't know what a rating of 5 would either qualitatively or
quantitatively indicate. But I also don't know for how many games this
would be an issue for you, what games would be "utterly foreign". I
think a lot of how you rate games like that might relate to how much
you're willing to step into the author's shoes and take his or her
intentions as part of the whole voting package. E.g., imagine I have a
real indisposition to puzzle-fests, but nevertheless finish said game
with a walkthrough, I might balance what "I would want in the game"
with the fact that, though the game isn't my cup of tea, it was a
REALLY well done puzzle fest. Might not give it a 10, but I might
throw in a couple of extra points, temporarily putting aside my own
aesthetics. (This is hypothetical, by the way, and I've entered this
year, so I'm not judging anyway)
Not that you HAVE to delve into this, of course. It's just another
possible perspective. To loosely paraphrase Jean Cocteau, if I build a
table, it's your choice whether to eat from it or build a fire with
it.
Alan
David Thornley
>the conclusions. So I apologize in advance if this is a big waste to
>everyone's time. Anyway...
>
>If I have a game that I absolutely hate, that maybe is unplayably bad,
>am I better off giving it no score, or giving it a 1.
>
it deserves.
>Alternately, if there is a game (or 10 or 20) that may be good or bad,
>but is so utterly foreign to what I want in a game that I find that I
>can't play it at all, but don't feel like I should mark it down for
>that, should I not score it at all, or give it a 5?
>
That depends on what you want to do.
If you want to have nothing to do with scoring the game, don't
score it. A 5 is a very definite opinion on a game.
If you think that this is something that should not exist,
due to sexual content, grammar and punctuation, running on
single-OS platforms, running on multi-OS platforms, absence
of flaming heads, whatever, give it a 1.
To simplify:
Scoring a game, with whatever score, is expressing an opinion.
Score games you have opinions on.
Not scoring a game is not expressing an opinion. Do not score
games you do not have opinions on.
Aside from that, "Vote as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law."
That and not changing the score you give after two hours of play.
(Note: this doesn't mean you can't change a score you give a
game later, or that you have to spend two hours on a game. It
means that, if you spend *more* than two hours, you should give
it a score at the two-hour mark and not chang it thereafter.
It is possible that Stephen has cleverly-written software agents
that will monitor this and post nude photos of your credit card
numbers on a website if you violate this rule. Then again,
maybe not.)
--
David H. Thornley | If you want my opinion, ask.
da...@thornley.net | If you don't, flee.
http://www.thornley.net/~thornley/david/ | O-
Harry Dietz
273eac09.01100...@posting.google.com...
> If I have a game that I absolutely hate, that maybe is unplayably bad,
> am I better off giving it no score, or giving it a 1.
Hi Chris,
Maybe my message in rec.arts.int-fiction is a result of playing the very
same game.
I think, if you are the only one that hates this game, you should give it a
1. But maybe there should be a 'REMOVE THIS GAME FROM COMPETITION' vote...
Regards,
Harry Dietz
Adam Thornton
Maybe you should just track the author down, show up at his or her
house, and deliver a good solid ass-whupping, while yelling "HOW DARE
YOU WASTE MY TIME LIKE THAT?"
Adam
(Sheesh, I hope it isn't my game!)
Federació de Fires de Catalunya
En/Na Anson Turner ha escrit:
> In article <3bc25c7c$0$1927$b45e...@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu>,
> wil...@mit.edu (D. Jacob Wildstrom) wrote:
>
> > Ultimately, I can only think of a couple good reasons not to vote on a game:
> >
> > * Inability or unwillingness to play the game
> > * Having been involved with the game's creation (e.g. betatesting)
> > * Strong personal bias wrt the author (i.e. if Joe Smith poisoned your
> > cat, or if you're dating Joe Smith (or both!), you couldn't
> > ethically vote on his game)
>
> If Mr. Smith poisoned my cat, I hardly think my vote on his game would be an
> ethical matter. I mean, really, what difference does it make how poorly his
> game does when he is so unlikely to survive long enough to see the votes
> counted?
>
> Anson.
Federació de Fires de Catalunya
I WANT NOT MORE MISSAGES!!!!!!!
THANK YOU
En/Na Anson Turner ha escrit:
> In article <9q741d$l8o$1...@news.fsf.net>, ad...@fsf.net (Adam Thornton) wrote:
>
> > Harry Dietz <spam.sucks....@epost.de> wrote:
> > >I think, if you are the only one that hates this game, you should give it a
> > >1. But maybe there should be a 'REMOVE THIS GAME FROM COMPETITION' vote...
> >
> > Maybe you should just track the author down, show up at his or her
> > house, and deliver a good solid ass-whupping, while yelling "HOW DARE
> > YOU WASTE MY TIME LIKE THAT?"
>
> Hey, next year, let's make that the last-place prize!
>
> Anson.